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Want the skinny on what's fabulous in fashion?

It's being fat. Yes, that is FAT and owning that word and looking fantastic.

My former assistant, Bethany Rutter, (Ok, she only worked for me for a few weeks when she was finishing a degree in French), is on the brink of stardom because she is who she is and proud of it. The way she dresses; great prints, natural sense of how to mix new-with-vintage, evening-with-day then add the "it shouldn't go, but it does" accessory always reminded me of Kate Moss.

Although Bethany is a little bigger.

Londoners like big girls. We LOVE Nigella Lawson - not so much for her cookery show anymore and we are completely over all that licking of spoons - it's because she looks wonderful in Vivienne Westwood corsetry. When I started in fashion, one of the hot London labels was Clements Ribeiro - which still is one of the hot London labels, especially as a point of difference is that the designers, Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro, have grown up wise and now do a great, affordable range for Evans, aimed at the plus-sized woman.

As to the word "fat", Bethany has grabbed ownership of it, to the point that she's the star of an article, "My Big Fat Fashion Statement", in today's London Times. Plus, she models for the Clements Ribeiro for Evans range and she blogs.

'Bethany is a 23-year-old blogger from South London who wears cool clothes in a size 16-18. We are sitting in a showroom off Oxford Street, where Rutter is waiting to be photographed for Evans, along with four other world-famous fat bloggers. The plus-size high-street store is paying them to model its new collection by Clements Ribeiro,' says The Times

Bethany isn't "curvy". When magazines or, indeed, other humans talk about '"real women" and their "curves" it makes my blood boil,' she's quoted as saying in The Times.

Here's Bethany's fat girl's top 10:

1. Allow yourself to be inspired. Don't feel like you're not allowed to look to images of thin celebrities or models for inspiration. Barring very few exceptions, those women wearing those clothes are the only people whose fashion you're allowed to see.

2. Figure out a way to bring your inspirations to life. Read fat fatshion blogs and find out where makes clothes that roughly equate to what you want.

3. Feel the fear and do it anyway: you'll get so many more compliments than you'll get snarky looks for wearing something daring.

4. Try things on! You'll be surprised how many shops quietly cater to fat women. My current favourite shop is Monki, which looks like it only makes clothes for willowy Swedish hipsters, but their size L is generous enough to fit up to about a size 20.

5. No item of clothing is off-limits to you. If you've got the urge to try bodycon or a jumpsuit, find the item that gives you the look you want but also makes you feel comfortable.

7. Talk! If you're the only fat girl in your group of friends and are feeling like you need encouragement from people who understand, then take to Twitter or Tumblr and join the conversation. It's amazing what a difference it makes to hear positivity, or even just to lament the lack of tights for fats.

8. Find your colour. Maybe it's because I have green eyes and red hair but whenever I wear green, particularly kelly green, people tell me how great it is on me. When so much 'advice' revolves around prohibitive and restrictive 'fashion rules', it's easy to lose your sense of individuality. Black is not the answer to all your problems if you'd really shine in fuchsia.

9. Compliment other fat women. If you see a fellow fat chick out and about and you think her dress is really rad, tell her. Until the world becomes less hostile to the fat female form, we've got to build up each other's self esteem.

10. There is no single cut of jean, no single print, no single fabric that will make every fat girl look and feel the way they want. Wear the clothes that reflect your life, your comfort zones, your every day practicalities, your personal interests and preferences. It's a lot more useful than trying to avoid skinny jeans because a mag told you to.

As Bethany told The Times - 'I've been interested in clothes since I was a teenager which is obviously kind of frustrating because I've always been fat, and liking clothes, being fat and being a teenager don't go very well together. In my teens, it didn't matter how much I knew, it felt as if fashion would always be closed off to me. Fortunately that turned out to be false,' she says, referring to the Evans modelling contract. 'Imagine how strange it felt: I'd grown up assuming my fat would stand between me and happiness, and then years later someone gives me money because the way I look is actually a profitable, marketable, attractive prospect.'